Paddy had long heard the stories of an amazing family tradition. It was related that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th birthdays. On that special day, they'd each walked across the lake to the pub on the far side for their first legal drink.
So when Paddy's 18th came 'round, he and his pal, Mick, took a boat out to the middle of the lake, Paddy stepped out of the boat . . . and nearly drowned! Mick just barely managed to pull him to safety.
Furious and confused, Paddy, went to see his grandmother.
"Grandma," he asked, "It's my 18th birthday, so why can't I walk across the lake like my father, his father, and his father before him?"
Granny looked deeply into Paddy's troubled blue eyes and said, "Because your father, your grandfather and your great grandfather were all born in December, when the lake is frozen; you were born in August."